Doom: Hunter's Prime
by Steel Scale
Summary: Takes place after Doom 3
1. Chapter 1

Doom: Hunter's Prime

_After the events of Doom 3, humanity spreads beyond their solar system, colonizing a solar system with three new planets. Corporal Gabriel Hunter is transferred there, thinking that Special Warfare training will be a blast, but then he and the other members of the new Federal Naval Infantry (essentially glorified Navy SEALS in his opinion) find life on the colony of Athens, essentially one big asteroid the government labeled a colony is less than exciting. He thinks his 'Elite forces training' will be dull and uneventful until Alpha Centauri goes silent._

* * *

Chapter One: Hunter's Awakening

Corporal Gabriel 'Eyes' Hunter remembered why he hated being put 'on ice' immediately after he remembered where the hell he was, and when he was to be more precise. The tube he had been stuck in hadn't frozen him like so many sci-fi writers liked to believe, it just put him to sleep and kept feeding him nutrients and let him out every month for the duration of the two year trip that it took the UNNS _Ark of Terra_ to reach Alpha Centauri using the new 'FTL' system installed in it. FTL Gabe's ass, if it was so fancy it would have gotten them there in a few days or weeks instead of having him take twenty four periods of sleep over the course of a simple transfer cruise. From time to time he saw other ships pass when they woke up, one even boasted a new FTL system that had taken them to the _Ark's_ position (being 50 percent done their trip) in three months rather than twelve. The smaller, fancier _Omega_ left the _Ark_ in the dust and probably had one or two trips between Sol and Alpha Centauri just to mock them-in Gabe's mind at least.

He looked around Pod Bay 3, one of the twelve the _Ark_ held as the other seven men and women climbed out of their pods. PFC James' Jamie' Carter wretched as he collapsed out of his tube, aiming into the tin disposal can that had been conveniently placed-perhaps by a full time crew member who knew Jamie had a habit of spilling his guts after a 'freeze'. Jamie was larger than any other person in the room, standing at 6'3 and had a shaved head with a thin layer of facial hair forming. His ice blue eyes looked up at Gabe after he had controlled his bowels. "About fucking time Eyes, no more freeze!"

"Yeah," Gabriel nodded, opening the compartment above his compartment and letting the uniform within spill out onto him. After the third or fourth time he got used to waking up to naked men and women, so he didn't feel uncomfortable about turning his back to the others. He pulled on some boxers, a white tank shirt, a pair of grey cargo pants, a black form fitting t shirt with the name 'Hunter' written on the back in white letters, a pair of socks, and finally some boots.

As Jamie went to his own compartment, which was right next to Gabriel's, the Corporal took two steps away from the large man. "Hey, watch it! If you go spilling your guts again I don't want to be target number one dumb ass!" Despite the harsh language, the two of them had no ill feelings towards each other and had experienced this situation twenty three times in a row before today.

"Ah lighten up Angel Eyes, I can hold it." Jamie said. "Don't have a seizure every time we stand five feet from each other, doesn't look good if I'm the indirect cause of a could be Operator."

"An operator, are you kidding me? Delta Force's boys still get to be called that, we're just the Feds' New Idiots." Gabe commented. "Now get dressed Private, if I can help it I will never look at your balls again." He strolled out of the Pod Bay and into the Pod Bay Corridor. Already several of the _Ark's_ ninety six marine passengers were out and stretching, some just pulling the last of their clothes on. Gabriel joined several that proceeded into the main area of the ship where several crew members-some of whom had gone two years with waking them up and putting them to sleep and some joining them in the sleep in the Naval Personnel Pods. A few people told jokes, some enjoyed reuniting with old friends, and others just went to the latrines, the ships' cafeteria, or in Gabe's case the Personal Supply Officer to get a razor, he had a thin layer of facial hair building up and wanted to shave it off before he ended up with a beard.

"Rise and shine Angel." Sergeant Rawlings, the Personal Supply Officer grunted as Gabe entered the storage room where the NCO operated from. "Let me guess, princess wants to shave her arm hairs off so she looks good for Hulk?"

"Hate you too Sarge, hate you too." Gabriel sighed. "Anyways, yeah, I need a new razor." He reached into a pocket of his pants and pulled out his requisition card. Rawlings was one of the few soldiers who stayed out of the pods for the two year trip, and handled any personal effects the soldiers might want upon exiting the pods. He didn't carry a lot of important things, just some regular objects that a man or woman might want for when they got out of their pods.

"Here you go Angie, ask Jamie if you can name your first born after me." Yep, Rawlings was a regular ass, but he was an actual veteran who had been in the Special Forces, Delta Force if Gabriel recalled correctly, and he was still good despite being stuck with playing store clerk for a company of marines. "Joseph Hunter…or is it Joseph Carter? I can hardly tell between the two of you."

"Can do Sarge," Gabriel sighed as he took the razor and shaving cream and left the storage room as other marines showed up to claim what they would need to prepare for the landing in Alpha Centauri. The actual landing was two days away, the marines were to be given time to have some real rest and exercise, also time to get to know the rest of their company.

But Gabriel only needed to get to know maybe twenty or thirty of them, since barely a third of the marines on board the _Ark_ were due for Special Warfare Training on Alpha Centauri III, the UN Off Planet Special forces Training Ground. The planet was more similar to Mars in a way, just barely habitable and with almost no plant life on the surface, so the UN made use of it by turning it into a place for the Federal Naval Infantry to train. The FNI was basically a new Navy Special Warfare group for the UN's growing Space Armada. It had perhaps a single company of two hundred, and that was before Gabriel had left Earth, it could have been a battalion or a regiment with the new FTL systems the ships had developed while the _Ark_ had wasted two years. He thought of it as more of a glorified Navy SEALS division or a way to put away talented soldiers who pissed someone off high up on the chain of command.

In Gabriel's case it would be a Lieutenant Robert Graham, who was a part of the FNI and had been leading a successful raid on a rebel faction that took control of Mars City three years ago. Gabriel had been one of the marines called to help out Graham's single fire team, and had taken the pleasure of gunning down the rebel leader using a sniper rifle despite the ever ego driven Graham demanding the rebel be left for himself. Pretending to 'award' Hunter, he had placed him, Jamie, and their seven squad mates on the _Ark_ and shipped them off for Special Forces training.

You never know though, maybe Graham really was awarding Gabe, he hadn't shown anger at all, but Gabe had a way of suspecting that a person is forcing a smile. That and Graham had a habit of being rather open with his troops on all topics, and often let his temper go when he did this. Gabriel hadn't seen the Lieutenant since, but knew that he'd be on ACIII when Gabe landed, taking one of the FTL 'Slip Transports' that out ran the _Ark_ for the past couple of years. If he didn't have the power to royally fuck up Hunter's life any more than he already had Gabe might break his nose.

"Looking good Corporal, try not to let that chin fuzz grow back." Gabe looked up as Sergeant Vanessa Morgan entered the unisexual latrines, clad in a pair of cargo pants and her tank shirt, brushing her teeth with one hand and turning the cold water on with the other. She spat and then looked at him. Her once blonde hair was dyed black before they left Earth, and her brown eyes regarded him with cold examination, as if to see if he was still up to the new outfit they were joining.

"Don't worry Sarge; you know I hate to disappoint a lady." Gabe muttered before he finished shaving and quickly rinsed, wiping his face with a towel. He looked at his reflection. His sky blue eyes gleamed and his black hair hadn't grown an inch from the last time he went into his pod. It was messy, black, closely cut, the way he liked it and needed it if he wanted to fight.

"Good, if I'm going to have a man training next to me I don't want to look at an ugly ass piece of hair on his face." Vanessa said before she pulled her jacket on over her shirt.

"Guess Jamie still has no luck then." Gabe remarked dryly.

"No luck at what?" Speak of the devil, Jamie appeared behind them.

"Oh nothing Private, just tonight's poker game in the lounge." Vanessa smirked.

"You're on Morgue." Jamie identified the female Squad leader by her nick name, which she had earned thanks to her precision sniping skills-never leaving a single enemy alive when she had a functioning Viper sniper in hand and enough ammunition to last the battle.

"Jamie, don't waste your pay check before you even get it, New Idiots get even less than the regular marine." Gabe said. It was kind of a lie, they got the same amount of pay…which was a little unfair considering they were ordinary marines given a little extra training and a fancy name and put into a mission real Spec Ops dudes should be taking care of.

"Oh yee of little faith Eyes, Morgue is in debt to 'me' if I recall, what was it, three hundred bucks?" Jamie grinned as he started shaving.

"Don't lie Jamie, it's less than fifty, I remember that much." Gabriel said as he pulled on his jacket and buttoned it up. "I'll be at the firing range if anybody needs me."

"Alright troops, you got to remember how to hold a gun before you stand with the big boys!" The Sergeant in charge of the firing range barked at Gabe and nine other marines. "Corporal Hunter, I hear you have the best record from the academy and confirmed kill of 17 hostiles, please show these children how to use a gun!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Gabriel said in response before he picked up an HGX hand gun, sliding a 13 round clip into the hand gun and chambering a round. He flicked the safety off and raised the pistol, gripping it in both hands and fired once, twice, three times down the firing range, all three bullets striking the man shaped targeting post, once in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the groin.

A few marines snickered at the third shot. The Sergeant grinned. "Damn Hunter, hate to get on your bad side if you go that low."

"It helps to disable the enemy sir, makes them a hell of a lot easier to hit." Gabe said. "Besides, Private Murphy was dead after the first shot." Private Murphy was what they referred to the training dummies as.

"Alright people, moving on! If you have the capacity, tell me what this is!" the Sergeant held up a UBR4 (Universal Battle Rifle).

"Sir, Maverick and Hitch Universal Battle rifle Model 4 sir!" Jamie said. "Uses clips of 30 rounds, moderate accuracy, and is best suited for close quarters to medium range combat!"

"And?!" The Sergeant growled.

"Sir, it has a firing mode of semi automatic, burst fire, or full automatic sir!" Gabe pitched in. "It also can be modified with any form of optics or under slung weapon that are of the latest design!"

"Good, everybody grab a rifle and choose a lane!" The Sergeant barked.

Gabriel picked up one of the UBRs, or 'Ripper' rifle and slid a clip into it, flicking the rifle to 'semi auto' fire. He chose Lane four and raised the rifle, using the iron sights rather than a scope, and locked onto his target when it popped up. He fired as the 1.7 second count down began. If you fired after the countdown, most likely in real life you'd be dead or your armor saved you. His single shot hit the target in the stomach. The countdown went up a second, signaling the enemy was not dead and would return fire.

Gabriel struck first, firing two more times. This time the target was a confirmed kill. He was ready when the second target came up, this one a man holding an assault rifle like Gabe, so the counter was a single second this time instead of 1.7 like with the pistol wielding target. Gabe squeezed off two shots, missing once but hitting the dummy in the gun arm, something that would disarm or throw off its aim in real life and extending the timer to three seconds-for the dummy to 'retrieve' it's pistol and 'shoot'. I squeezed off a third round and the dummy was KIA.

The timers were set based off of recordings of a volunteer marine who would show reactions to being hit in different places and would be timed on how he or she reacted in kind. Obviously the marine who had volunteered for the _Ark's_ live fire training programs had been fast enough to retrieve his pistol instead of writhing in pain or groaning-not that the dummy could mimic that. Gabe wondered if the volunteers were actually shot, or if the shooters used rubber bullets.

Hell, for all Gabe knew the volunteer was being executed by a firing squad when he was recorded. Or he may have been a hostile that a marine recorded in his combat footage. As the third target came up, wielding a shot gun and giving Gabe 1.2 seconds to react, the Corporal fired three quick rounds, striking him in the stomach twice and once in the head. The dummy was KIA instantly, as were the next seven dummies. As Gabe's clip ran dry he ejected it and grabbed another from the counter separating him from the firing range and slid it in just in time, bringing the rifle up and shooting the eleventh dummy in the head with a single shot.

"And…stop!" The Sergeant barked.

The five men and five women lowered their rifles.

"Eject ammunition!" The Sergeant ordered them as he moved back to his position near the gun racks.

Gabe popped the clip out of his rifle and then ejected the round that was in the chamber, placing it and the clip on the counter and returning with the other marines to the gun rack where they deposited their assault rifles. The Sergeant looked over the scores, which were displayed on a screen that was put together by an AI that could do little more than do math. It used the basic 'yes/no' or 'on/off' commands, a yes being a kill or a no meaning the marine was shot by his or her target. Only three marines actually failed to hit a target in time on an occasion or two. Gabe smirked as he saw his name appear at the top of the list.

"Look at Corporal Hunter people, this man is a marksman." The Sergeant said. "Hunter, you're excused from live fire training, you obviously remember how to use a gun. Get your ass off my course."

Gabriel left the live fire course and chose to return to the lounge. The lounge was basically a big dome that had a series of screens built in to it that connected to screens on the outside of the massive ship that showed everything outside-modifying the images so that lights didn't cause harm to a marine's eyes. The _Ark of Terra_ was four miles long, mostly carrying supplies, oxygen tanks, water tanks, fuel, and just under a hundred and twenty humans, mostly the company of marines due for Alpha Centauri. The Dome was a third of the size of a foot ball field, and about thirty people were allowed in at any time, with periods of up to two hours before being ordered to leave.

Gabriel lounged on a couch, looking up as stars-digitally enhanced on the screens passed the ship as it continued it's soon to be concluded journey away from Earth. A few other marines and crew members chatted away around him, some drinking, some watching old movies brought along, some were exercising, some security personnel were polishing hand guns.

"Hey Eyes, good job on the firing range," Gabe looked up as another member of his squad sat down. Lieutenant Vinceti grinned as he placed his legs up on the table in front of the couch, watching one of the large screens that were showing some late twentieth century movie called 'Saving Private Ryan'. Vinceti's olive skin gleamed in the light and his short black hair made Gabe's look grey.

The Italian was the squad's pilot, having been randomly placed with them on the mars mission and would be permanently assigned to the soon to be 'Tango Squad'. Vinceti had little actual combat experience, but he could maneuver a drop ship or shuttle and wasn't bad with a gun in hand, so they got along pretty well. Jamie however hated pilots-seeing as he always gets sick on anything but a full sized transport, which his equipped to numb any sense of vibrating while descending into an atmosphere rather than the bump and shaking of a drop ship or combat shuttle.

"About time you got out of the freeze." Vinceti continued. "They woke the pilots up days ago and had us doing flight simulator after flight simulator, I had to relearn everything!" He sat up straight. "So, how's that Sergeant Morgue doing?" Gabe was called Eyes for two reasons, one being his bright blue eyes and name, and the second being his ability to see the truth in something. And he saw that Vinceti was smitten with Morgue the moment they met.

"Don't worry Vince, you can keep stalking her after she's done doing inventory." Gabriel rolled his eyes at the pilot. "Just make sure to wear a cup, she's packing steel toes now."

"Thanks for the warning." Vinceti said. "So, where's the big bald guy who keeps giving me the evil eye?"

"If I had to guess he's…giving you the evil eye." Gabe looked over Vinceti's shoulder to where Jamie was glaring down at the smaller man, cracking his knuckles.

"Stand down Carter," Morgue said as she joined the trio of marines. "I just got off the radio with the Captain, seems the timer was off, we'll be arriving in Alpha Centauri tonight. Girls, you're going to be diggign sand out of your panties for a long, long time." She grinned evilly.

"Great, stuck down on a barren planet with the Jolly Giant, a ball busting Sergeant, and a pretty boy pilot." Gabriel groaned. "Here I thought I'd get a day or two to myself."

"Gabe, you get no such luck." Jamie said. "Look on the bright side, we get to get our boots dirty early!"

"Private Carter, shut up."

* * *

Captain Anton looked at the image. "Do we have any more information on this?"

"No sir, all of the other recon probes just vanished off the grid as soon as they got close to AC Prime." The Tactical officer said as she presented him a PDA. "Command transmitted these orders to us."

Charles Anton looked at the information as it scrolled down the screen. "Alright, we continue to ACIII, let the Dawn and the Omega look into this. If we need to initiate Channel protocol I want this tug with a proper FTL so we don't waste two years going home. Are the packages mentioned in this ready?"

"I contacted Centauri Prime Command, they've approved and they have a few ready in Daedelus ship docks." The Comm. Officer reported. "After we drop off the FNI personnel we can get there and be re-equipped."

"Alright people, we're moving up to Alert 3, don't let anybody outside of the crew know, the marines need to move on for training." Anton said. "As of now we are in phase one of Operation Channel."

* * *

End of chapter


	2. Chapter 2

Doom: Hunter's Prime

* * *

Chapter Two: Hunter's Arrival

"Transport November 12 is inbound for Alpha Centauri III orbit, destination Athens moon." The pilot of November 12, Lieutenant Kyle Vinceti said as the marine transport said as the shuttle detached from the massive _Ark of Terra_ and began its descent down towards the planet of Alpha Centauri, aiming for one of its five moons, this one named Athens. The twenty marines in the back looked out view ports at a ship that glided past.

"Holy shit, that's the Dawn!" Jamie whispered. "The Dawn of Victory, this is supposed to be the latest ship in the entire fleet!"

"Yeah, and we can hear you over the radio November Twelve, change your frequency to Centauri III Command." A voice was heard over the radio in the cockpit. "And welcome to Alpha Centauri everybody."

"Alright, sorry Dawn, I'm changing frequencies." Vinceti said. "Centauri III command this is November 12 on approach with fresh meat for Naval Special Warfare Training, Federal Navy Infantry division. Pass code four-seven-niner-Saul-six-zero-Echo."

"Pass code received November 12, drop off approved, you may proceed to Athens Alpha Base." The Communications specialist replied. "Welcome to Athens boys and girls."

The transport descended down to the moon orbiting the arid planet of Alpha Centauri III. Gabriel adjusted his pack, which contained some of the few personal belongings he had with him. One was a picture of his family from when he had been in college. There was also a picture of Gabe's first girl friend- they had split up after college, but they were still very good friends despite this. He wouldn't be surprised if she was married by now and wasn't aware if he was alive or not.

"Wow, this place sucks." Vinceti commented as the transported cruised several miles over the barren surface of Athens. "The base is a few miles up ahead, ETA is six minutes so you better get ready to jump ship. Tuck and roll as they say back home."

"Hardy-har-fuckin har El-tee, you're a laugh." A marine grumbled. "Man, the sooner we're on the ground the sooner I'll relax."

"Don't count on it; they'll have us in Special Warfare training man, no rest for the elite." Jamie said. "Or in this case the fancy elite."

"This duty sucks," Morgue grunted. "They didn't even give us a choice of being here, the least they could do is offer us some better payment instead of putting fancy giant targets on us and calling us their new space based elites."

"Guys, it's the government, what can you do?" Gabriel shrugged. "Besides, look on the bright side of things, after we're done the civilians will kiss some serious ass where ever we go. If FNI pays off maybe we'll get a raise. Now can we stop whining about payments and just face it like a-"

"Like what Corporal?" Morgue raised an eye brow.

"Like a true marine would!" Gabriel said, trying to save his ass from the sniper, who probably didn't need her precious Viper to murder him even with eighteen marines stuck in with them.

"Damn straight." Vinceti said.

"Shut up Vinceti, you just got to learn to fly better, we're doing the hard work!" Jamie said. "Can you try to lay off the turbulence next time we get back?"

"Oh you're asking for it now, Private first class James Carter." Vinceti said in his serious voice. "And holy shit I see the base, looks like crap, and I bet it'll smell like crap."

"You can see it already? You said it was miles away." Gabriel said.

"Yeah, but I see it already bro." Vinceti said. "A big tower….looks like a wide compound spread out around it, all the buildings are small, just a story or two tall, and it doesn't look like any doors for people to take a walk through aside from some air locks on the roofs."

"The base must be connected through underground tunnels constructed by EVA crews when the base was constructed." Morgue said. "Let's get going. This is only Alpha Base, so only half of us are getting off here."

"I have a list here. Morgue, Carter, Hunter, Hale, Davis, Patel, Owens, Mann, Daniels, and Carson are here, the rest of you get ready for a less cramped trip." The ten marines staying behind grinned while Gabe, Jamie, and Morgue along with the other seven began to gather their gear. Vinceti chuckled. "I'll be up at the air fields for my training, see you all later."

"November 12 this is Alpha, Air lock three is ready to receive you." A voice said over the radio. "Decrease speed to maneuvering speed and descend to 7 meters off the ground, remain fifteen feet or more from the air lock until we signal you."

"Rodger that Alpha, reducing to maneuvering speed." Vinceti said before the transport lurched, descending and then turning as it came down next to a long building that stretched through the center of the compound around the large tower. There were two other transports moored by large metal docking claws, a set of which stretched out and grasped the transport, maneuvering it into position as Vinceti shut the engines down.

"Welcome to Alpha Base," A female voice said as the air lock hissed open. "We look forward to working with you from this day forward. The Aerospace Alliance will do all it can to assure your safety during your stay here."

The Aerospace alliance was a replacement for the Union Aerospace Corporation, which had caused the mysterious massacre at Mars City decades ago. Only several survivors out of the hundreds in Mars City survived to tell the tale, and only a single marine-an enlisted man had made it out, telling tales of monsters coming from the teleportation systems the UAC had been developing to improve galactic travel. The Alliance was made up of government organizations and civilian corporations who all were monitored by Government agents to make sure they only worked towards improving the lives of people both on Earth and on the new colony worlds of Alpha Centauri, not putting any in danger.

The enlisted man's words had gone unheeded, but he had received promotion to Captain after he recovered and today is a Lieutenant General who oversees trans-system travel. Gabriel had seen him on many reports, but never got to bother to learn his name. He was an old man in his 80s now-thanks to medical advances he looked like he was barely in his fifties, so nobody really cared about something that happened decades ago because of a now non-existent company. Gabriel hadn't felt better about anything though, he had seen a report dating back to before the corporal had been promoted about him being dragged away kicking and screaming to have a mental evaluation as the government put it, the suspicious part was that every other man and woman who survived claimed the very same thing.

The Corporal managed to get a view of the compound through his view port as the ship was moved into position. Most of the buildings seemed to be partially submerged in sand, or were almost entirely submerged by them. Sand was blowing softly through the air, affected by November 12's landing, the engines sending a cloud of sand into the air. He spotted a pair of men in EVA armor on top of one structure with a third who seemed to be tending to an antenna. One of the men, who was barely 20 feet from his view port waved to Gabe, who decided to return the favor.

"Please proceed out of the transport." The female voice said, snapping Gabriel out of it and making him grab his bag and look away from the view port while the trio of men resumed their duties.

Gabriel followed the nine other marines out of the transport. They came out into what seemed to be a small lobby. A single MP was behind a desk, a pleasant smile on his face as he typed away at a computer. He looked up. "Ah, the new FNI transfers, been waiting two years for you." He spoke as if it were a regular occurrence.

"How many other recruits have gotten here before us?" Jamie asked.

"About two combat companies, we have a full battalion for FNI now." The MP said. "Anyways, please present your military and give them to me, I'll provide you with a new I.D that labels you as a member of the Federal Navy Service, it will provide you with access to security, the armory in the event of an alert, and other undisclosed areas. It will not allow you access to anybody else's quarters unless they have marked your I.D in their personal data base, allowing you access when they themselves are in the room. Each room holds three each, and you shall store your side arm there and shall be allowed to personally decorate it, we have plenty from the civilian colony on Alpha Centauri Prime to use. Just ask Sergeant Dallas, he's the unofficial requisition's officer here and the chief allows him to operate to help reasonably improve your time here without going soft on you."

Over the course of the speech the ten marines handed over their I.D cards and received new FNI . Gabriel looked at the shiny new card which had a more up to date picture of him-two years ago when he first left Earth rather than three years ago, not much of a big change. He looked up as the MP finished handing out cards. "Proceed to Master Sergeant Tolan at the small arms locker; he's the head of the military contingent here under Captain Parker. He'll provide you with a side arm, knife, and will show you to the firing range and other training facilities we have." Obviously the man was used to addressing groups of marines.

"Thanks." Jamie grunted before all ten marines proceeded through the lobby and out into a corridor. A pair of marines clad in camouflage pattern dark green armor bordering on black passed them by, each one cradling an AM6 'Vanguard' submachine gun and their faces covered by black visors. The armor marines wore were more slim from when Gabe remembered, when he wore bulky bright green armor and a twist on helmet made that was more of a dome shape.

They looked more like gas masks or Haz-Mat suit visors, but not the big bulky or ridiculous kind like in movies. The men and women moved onwards, following more signs as they passed through more corridors, some empty but some alive with activity as researchers, marine fire teams, or technicians moved around and between each other. Soon they reached the small arms locker, and in front of it a large well built man almost Jamie's size regarded the squad, his arms crossed. He wore the slim dark green marine armor and had a pistol in his belt. His hair was cut short, and his brown eyes stared at them coldly.

"Soldiers, I am Master Sergeant Michael Tolan, and I am in charge of the dispersion of live ammunition and combat weaponry in this base." The man said, scowling as he examined each marine. "Will the commanding officer of this squad move forward?"

Morgue moved forward. "Sir, Sergeant Vanessa Morgan, squad leader of Tango Squadron sir!"

"I've read your record, good to have a sniper around here, and an expert soldier." Tolan said. "But as far as I am concerned you are all recruits fresh out of your momma's arms, you are just wiping milk off your lips and looking at me wondering 'gee Mr. Tolan, how am I going to make something of myself?' Well let me tell you marines FNI might have started as publicity to intimidate rebels, but when people leave here they are trained, ready, and kicking ass in the field."

"Training begins tonight at 11:30 sharp, we shall be taking a training course in covert operations. You will be taught to kill your enemy silently instead of busting in guns blazing and being a meat shield for somebody useful. When you leave you will be the main fire power on the field. You will be FNI, you will be the newest generation of soldiers, and you will not make a fool of me by failing. Am I understood marines?!"

"SIR YES SIR!" The Squad yelled.

"Repeat after me! We came here to make something of ourselves!"

"WE CAME HERE TO MAKE SOMETHING OF OURSELVES!"

"We are useless, walking shields!"

"WE ARE USELESS, WALKING SHIELDS!"

"We have been royally fucked up and down the chain of command!"

"WE HAVE BEEN ROYALLY FUCKED UP AND DOWN THE CHAIN OF COMMAND!"

"But now we the army will pull its weight for us!"

"NOW THE ARMY WILL PULL ITS WEIGHT FOR US!"

"We are not marines!"

"WE ARE NOT MARINES!"

"We are FNI!"

"WE ARE FNI!"

"And the shit stops today!"

"AND THE SHIT STOPS TODAY!"

"Now, let's get you a gun and see if you have the right to be here!" Tolan yelled before he tapped a command code in to the controls and the door hissed open, revealing racks of weapons. "In line by rank! Morgan, Sergeant! Hunter, Corporal! Carter, Private first Class! Carson, Private First Class!" It went on like this as he handed each marine their side arm, a HGX 'Brawler' pistol, each of which had a thirteen round magazine in it capable of blowing a man's skull open in one shot.

"Report to your barracks, and report to Training Course 6 tonight." Tolan said with a smug smirk.

* * *

Gabriel ended up bunking with Jamie and somebody named 'Private First Class R. Sutherland'. When they arrived at their assigned bunk room the third bed was empty, and neatly cleaned. Jamie flopped down onto his bed. Gabriel set his bag down on his bunk and looked at Jamie. "If you jump on your bed and break it I am not letting you bunk with me and I can sure as hell guess our room mate won't either."

"How old do I look to you, five?" Jamie sent a grin Gabe's way….and the Corporal went back to unpacking.

"So, who do think Sutherland is?" Jamie asked as he lied back on his bed. "Think he'll be a suck up for you Mr. Angel Eyes?"

"That or he'll be the guy to make this time into entertainment by making sure I don't have to deal with you." Gabriel said. "Try not to make a bad impression Jamie, the last thing I want or need is somebody thinking I'm as insane as you."

"Insane? I am insulted." Jamie feigned indignity.

"You sing while you fight." Gabriel said.

"And I still kick ass." Jamie said.

"Just try to do a good job of not shooting me in the process." Gabriel said as he took out his Brawler and checked it before setting it in its holster in his belt.

"Oh don't worry, but if this guy turns out to be a bastard, I cannot make promises in his case."

"Yeah, 'he' may turn out to be your worst enemy, pal." Both men turned, and Jamie blinked as he realized the grave he had dug himself into.

Sutherland was a 'she', and she was glaring at Jamie. Her hair was cut to regulation length and was dirty blonde and messy as if she had just gotten out of a fire fight. Her stormy grey eyes looked over Jamie with a neutral expression, and then looked to Gabriel, who returned her gaze before she smiled a bit. "Please tell me you're the Corporal Hunter the sign mentioned."

"I am." Gabe said. "Private first Class R. Sutherland?"

"Rebecca Sutherland." Sutherland corrected him. "And yes I am sir."

"It's nice to meet you Private." Gabriel said with a nod. "I think you know Private First Class James Carter, call him Jamie."

"Call me Becky." Rebecca nodded to both of them. "And Jamie, feel free to continue your sentence."

"What sentence?" Jamie feigned ignorance, unpacking his belongings.

"Something about shooting me if I turned out to be a bastard." Becky said as she raised an eye brow. "Please go on."

"….I cannot speak English."

Gabriel smirked. Life on Athens may have gotten a little interesting.

* * *

"Sir, refit is underway, and FTL drive is being replaced." Anton watched as reports came in.

Outside, dozens of men and women in EVA suits were working on equipping the Ark, removing pieces of dented or worn armor and replacing it with new plates, funneling supplies and equipment into the vessel, and most especially lobotomizing the bow of the ship and placing something real special in. Two other ships were patrolling nearby; one passing so close Charles could see the command deck and even saw the commanding officer of the UNNS _Sentinel_, which had about twenty or thirty people on it and only a few rotary missile turrets. The commander was a middle aged woman with her hair tied back in a tight bun.

Charles recognized Captain Elliot Crichton immediately, but she didn't see him, too busy barking orders to her command crew as the _Sentinel_ angled away from the massive _Ark_ and towards Alpha Centauri Prime, which glowed like a jewel in the distance. Charles turned his attention back to the data files concerning the modifications being done to his vessel.

The FTL engine was more efficient than the shoddy MK.I engine. The Ark had been forced to enter FTL once a month and drop out of it after travelling for several days. With the new engines the Ark could jump four times the distance and enter slip space more often, decreasing the time it took to reach Alpha Centauri to a few months rather than years. The Ark was also being equipped with up to date weaponry-ships only used orbital bombardment cannons and ship to ship missiles, but now the Ark had a twin set of plasma guns mounted on its bow.

"The situation really is serious isn't it sir?" The Executive Officer commander Nash asked Anton.

Charles looked at his XO with exhausted eyes. "We're in phase two." He opened a data file. "We proceed to Phase Three in a week."

He opened a data file. "You're dismissed Nash, get some sleep, you need it pal."

He stared at the bipedal image on the screen. "And I need a fuckin drink."

* * *

End of chapter


	3. Chapter 3

Doom: Hunter's Prime

* * *

Chapter three: Hunter's Test

**Day 2 of training**

"GO!" Sergeant Tolan barked.

Gabriel lifted his pistol in both hands and swept the two passages before him, choosing the left one and pressing himself up against the wall when he reached a corner. He peered around it right before a burst of gun fire flew over his head. He pressed himself back against the wall and reached for one grenade in his belt. He tossed it around the corner and shut his eyes.

The flash bang went off and Gabe heard a few men curse. He spun around the corner and gunned them down with four shots, one to each man. They fell and Gabriel slowly proceeded out into the hall, the pistol still aimed at the downed men until the visor over Gabriel's face confirmed that they were all KIA. He looked at the discarded weapons, all of them Vanguard submachine guns. He looked over the soldiers and the guns, but each of them had only carried one clip, probably to keep Gabe from getting the weapons in the event that he over powered them.

As every submachine gun was almost useless without at least a half full clip Gabriel abandoned the weapons, not wanting to waste time cannibalizing the clip of each gun to get maybe one full clip. He moved on, ejecting the now empty clip from his HGX and sliding one of his last three into place, chambered a bullet, and proceeded around the next corner.

"Alpha 3, 6, 11, and 12 are out." The female AI voice commented from above the maze. "Bravo 3, six confirmed targets."

That meant that Gabriel had gone from defeating two enemies to six. The rest of Bravo squad had regrouped on the other side of the maze from where Gabriel had entered when the training simulation began. Sadly Alpha had gotten hold of a stash of Vanguards with plenty of ammo-all of the bullets were specialized shock bullets that would make the target's armor confirm a kill or non lethal hit and inject the user with a light formula to weaken their movements until the target was 'dead' and the armor would react to the 'death' and a full sedative would put the user out like a light. Charlie Squad had supposedly found a flame thrower and some Vanguards while the final team, Delta had managed to entirely regroup.

"Bravo 5, flank and cover! Seven, Nine, Ten, suppression fire, cover the retreat!" Morgue shouted over the team's channel. "Will you idiots get four and six moving ASAP?!"

"How's it going Morgue?" Gabriel asked as he came into a wider area and to his delight found a SCR1, or 'Dagger-1' carbine. The rifle was like a cut down version of the UBR, lighter and more maneuverable, holding 36 rounds and had semi automatic fire only, but was only beaten by the Viper in terms of accuracy and defeated in terms of stopping power by the standard issue BG7 'Boomer' shotgun.

"Not too bad, we just need to move back!" Morgue said. "Lost Bravo 2, Bravo 4 just bought it, so did eight, eleven, and twelve. Get your ass over here Hunter, I hate losing!"

"I'm on it Sergeant." Gabriel picked up the Dagger-1 carbine and checked the clip, finding it full and found a box of ammunition clips, but upon opening it he found only a single spare clip, obviously somebody had raided it and perhaps had no use for the rifle, or had one of their own. Either way he slid the clip into his combat harness and moved on, holstering his pistol in his belt and raising the Dagger-1.

"Five is down! Get moving, fall back!" Morgue yelled. "Hunter, we're moving to the central junction of the maze, meet us there!"

Gabriel replied. "I'm close to that area Sergeant-" He paused as something hit him in the chest and sent him flying off his feet. Luckily the armor registered that it had blocked the bullet. Gabriel rolled back around the corner, gasping for breath as he got to his feet. He adjusted the grip on his carbine, knowing he had found the one who had raided the rest of the ammo. He stuck the carbine around the corner, peering through the scope and saw the man crouched, a Dagger-1 in hand and a box of ammunition on the ground next to him as he casually ejected his now empty clip for another.

Gabriel fired three times, once catching the man in the shoulder and spinning him around, another catching him in the thicker armor over his back, and the third hitting him in the back of the helmet. He fell without a sound. "Delta 7 is out. Bravo 3 has seven confirmed targets."

"You're doing good Eyes, but if you don't mind could you get your ass over here and save ours?" Jamie asked over the gun fire on the radio. "We got a real angry Charlie squad and it's just me, Morgue, Seven, and Ten against these guys."

"I have a name you know!" Bravo Seven objected.

"Quit whining and keep firing!" Morgue yelled.

"Hold tight." Gabriel said as he collected three clips from the box and two pistol clips from the downed soldier. "I'm just around the corner now!" His sentence was quite true, as he came under fire when he turned the corner and immediately ducked back into cover before a hail of bullets tore up the wall. Gabe fired around the corner twice before ducking back into cover.

"Uh…guys? How many people are left in Charlie again?" He asked.

"An even dozen man, they have zero casualties." Jamie said. "We mopped up Alpha, fought off a couple of Deltas, and then these guys came out of nowhere!"

"Oh crap, we have a grenade, everybody down!" Morgue didn't need her radio for Gabriel to hear her and the following explosion. "Carter, aim for the guy on the left flank!"

"My Vanguard's jammed!" Jamie objected before pistol fire rang out. "I got him!"

Gabriel peered around the corner. "Alright, let's close them in!"

He raised his Dagger-1 and fired six times, spraying the squad with bullets and disabling three of them before they began to regroup and advance in two different teams, a five mean team closing in one Gabriel's last companions while four advanced on Gabriel. One was indeed carrying a flame thrower-luckily the armor would only need to register the fire for a few seconds before the kill was confirmed, so the user was in no danger as long as the armor was tightly sealed like it should be. Gabriel ducked into cover and retreated down the hall, crouching and bringing up his rifle as he faced the approaching team.

Two men fired Vanguards at him from the corner, and he responded with five shots that took down one and wounded the other in the left shoulder. He kept firing as the third squad member rained down bullets with an assault rifle. After a dozen or so rounds he managed to hit the man in the visor, and the kill was confirmed.

As the last two men rounded the corner, Gabriel fired once before his gun clicked-empty! He ejected the empty magazine and slid a fresh one in. He fired three times in quick succession and brought down them both. He ran around the corner as Bravo Seven and ten were confirmed to be down. Three of the Charlie members were still up and advancing on Morgue and Jamie.

Jamie and Morgue saw Gabriel and advanced, battle rifles blazing as they fired burst after burst and between them and Gabe they took down the last of the enemies in the simulation.

"Victory goes to Bravo Squadron." The female voice said. "Bravo 1 now holds record for most hostiles disabled at sixteen hostiles."

"Damn, way to go Morgue!" Jamie clapped Vanessa on the shoulder.

"How many did you get Hunter?" Morgue asked.

"Fifteen," Gabriel said, smiling as he took his helmet off. "Oh well, can't win everything."

"Damn, I got about four or five." Jamie said.

"Way to go Bravo." Sergeant Tolan entered the hall as the combatants got up, the injectors within their suit giving them a little wake up call. "Morgue, Hunter, you two make a kick ass team. Carter, get involved more or improve your aim, you missed nineteen times in a row before your first kill."

"It was suppression fire!" Jamie objected, but Tolan ignored him.

"Alright, you get an hour break, be back here by 7 pm, we're bringing in regulars at platoon strength." Tolan said. "And your squads will be divided up into four man fire teams instead of twelve person squads, assisting other squads except for a mutual kill will be forbidden, so I suggest you get to know everybody here because you never know who you will end up with." He grinned. "Oh, and you won't be fighting in here, you get to fight in the sand box."

"It's never a dull moment with Sergeant Tolan." Jamie commented before Becky appeared with Delta Squad.

"Ok, which one of you shot me in the face?" She pointed at her visor, and Gabriel realized the marksman had been a markswoman.

"Uh…guilty," Gabriel admitted. "Sorry Becky, but its war."

"Expect a nice little surprise someday Hunter." Becky smirked, and Gabriel knew he revenge would come to pass somehow, some way, in the long run or short run she would get back at him.

"Looking forward to it Private." Gabriel said. "For now I'm good for just having a shower." The forty eight FNI initiates removed the training armor and equipment and got into their uniforms, heading to their personal dorms. Gabriel could not help but glance at Morgue and Becky from time to time. When Gabriel had first enlisted and ended up with Morgue as his squad leader, he had to learn not to stare for too long-or at all in some cases. And he soon learned to appreciate why Morgue distanced herself emotionally, not because of protocol but because of her past.

Vanessa had been born in Canada, Saskatchewan, a small town she never bothered to name. Her dad wasn't the essence of a loving father, her mother let him walk all over the family, and her brother helped her dad in some cases. The final straw was after a time when her father had beat her mother and it was later discovered when Vanessa returned home and found paramedics taking her mother away that she was pregnant with twins, and she had a miscarriage from the abuse. Knowing he had just murdered her baby brother and sister, Vanessa became enraged and beat her brother with a base ball bat for helping. When their father returned home, Vanessa was gone and had left a phone call for the police, who arrived and arrested them both.

Vanessa went to juvenile hall for a while, but they let her off easy on account of her mental stability, emotional trauma, and the fact that her father had truly hurt her mother and murdered her unborn baby siblings. After she got out she dropped out entirely and enlisted in the Space Division of the United Nations Marines Corps and came out of boot camp as a PFC and rose to Sergeant in the three years she had been in the Corps before Gabriel. She hated contact with most men, but was fine with Gabriel and Jamie since she had witnessed them act a lot better than her father when on shore leave.

They had been on shore leave in California, and Gabriel had seen a woman get grabbed and pulled into an alley by two men. Luckily the woman put up a fight, so before the men could get her into their car trunk Jamie came up behind one and broke his leg with an expertly aimed swing from a crow bar. Gabriel proceeded to break the other man's arm when he tried to pull a gun on Jamie and the two reported it to the police. Before then Morgue would only talk to them to give them orders or demand a response to an order, but she seemed to soften up when she saw that Gabe and Jamie were good men.

She still got annoyed with Jamie a lot, but she could stand being in the same room as him, and had a light friendship with Gabriel. Becky hadn't opened up enough to share her history with her new bunk mates-the previous two had dropped out of FNI training and applied as colonial guards for Alpha Centauri Prime's civilian centers. She seemed to instantly identify Jamie as a joker and Gabriel as the average marine-somewhat talented at hand to hand combat and fire arms handling but still average.

She treated them with respect and vice versa and was even getting along with Sergeant Morgue. Jamie had once made a joke about Gabriel being named 'Eyes' because he always seems to notice women who were gold plated and more than willing to crush your balls if you got too excited with them. These women had short tempers, even shorter if you got on their nerves even once…Gabriel was still afraid to shower near her in the unisex washrooms now.

Gabriel undressed with his friends and several others who decided to take advantage of the showers and ignored the chill of the ice cold water. It actually helped him get off of the topic of thinking of the two women and thinking towards the next training course. After the training course he would be required to assist with patrols both inside of and outside of the base, which meant environmental armor like what the marines here wore. That also meant a little familiar procedure for Gabriel for the first time in what may have felt like barely a week but in reality was two years of his life.

He paused as he realized something…..he missed his 23rd and 24th birthday! And if the date was right-according to a calendar his 23rd had been a month into the journey, his 24th thirteen months in, and that was eleven months ago so if he factored in the days and weeks now…..

His 25th birthday was in a few days, three or so.

….well shit.

* * *

"Go! Go! Go!" Tolan yelled. "Down the ramp, let's go!"

Gabriel and three other FNI initiates leaped out of the rover like the last four teams had, leaving seven more teams in the massive rover with Sergeant Tolan.

"Same drill with the other teams!" He yelled as he joined them in the sand, raising his voice so they could hear their radios over the roaring wind-despite the radios being inside their helmets. "You have just completed a landing! Your gear and weapons have been scattered all over the region! Your objectives are to gather what you can inside of an hour and then proceed to neutralize all hostiles in the area! You might want to use the surrounding environment, maybe hide yourselves in the sand, or covering a tarp and placing it over who ever grabs a sniper rifle, there will be gear for every basic infantry strategy even a ten year old should know about! The mission ends when only the members of a single team are standing!"

He then held out a case. "In this case are live ammunition clips, three for each of you! You will only be able to open this when an emergency signal is sent that unlocks it! If it opens, high tail it to base and alert other teams of the development! The base is only three miles outside of the mission zone, your suits have enough oxygen for eight hours, and this mission will only last three hours at the most! If you are hit you hike back!" He climbed back into the rover after handing the case to Gabriel, who was the fire team leader. "Good luck Fire Team Hunter!" Gabe wasn't sure if that was the real designated name or if Tolan just liked his performance in the combat simulation.

"Alright, let's get moving!" Gabriel barked to his team. "First things first though, name and rank!"

"Private Ethan Johnson, sir!" One soldier said.

"Lance Corporal Joseph Martin, sir." The second soldier said less enthusiastically.

"Private Gillian Norton, sir." The third soldier said.

"Alright, I'm Corporal Hunter, not sure if the Sarge named this team after me or if it's random designation and quite frankly I don't give a damn." Gabriel said. "We'll proceed to way point Alpha, and by the way that is 300 meters in that direction, deeper in the zone." He pointed to the east. "We'll search for weapons and ammo along the way." He held up his empty HGX. "Pistol ammo is a first. If you find any, load your gun before you pick up anything else. After that go to town for all I care, just don't start shooting at every speck of sand that hits you in the visor!"

"We had better get moving then, the storm is getting worse!" Norton pointed upwards to reveal the sky was now being blocked out by clouds of dust.

"You're right, move out!" Gabriel began to lead the way through the storm.

"Sir, look!" Charles rushed to the command console and looked at the data that flowed across it.

"God in heaven…we were supposed to have a week!" Charles said. "We're upgrading to Shield Phase, tell the dock workers we don't have a lot of time before it starts. Operation Channel is in combat status!"

"Yes sir!"

"Lieutenant, are you getting any readings?"

"Negative sir, a few disturbances but we don't have anything deadly yet." The tactical officer said. "If we hurry we can make sure we never do get anything unexpected."

"Is the Shield site in combat range?" Charles asked.

"Doing a Target Test now sir…if we had fired a missile just now we'd blow it off the face of Athens." The Lieutenant said.

"Good, all we need is the Hammer." Charles said. "Contact Prime Command, tell them we are advancing operations, they might want to expect some company real soon."

Gabriel picked up the box. "Got one, everybody gather around!" He opened the metal box as his troops gathered, revealing six pistol clips. They each took one and loaded their pistols with the training rounds. Gabriel passed one to Norton and Johnson-without even a single complaint from Martin, who agreed with Gabe's idea to give the underlings the spares.

"Sir, I spotted a crate down this hill, I think it might have more gear in it." Martin said as he examined his pistol. "We should hurry though, Fire team 3 was dropped off only a mile away from here, and they might be a hundred yards away for all we know."

"Alright, I'll take point!" Gabriel started down the hill. "Johnson, Martin, cover me! Norton, you're with me!"

Norton joined the Corporal as they made their way down the slope until they reached a crate. Two gun shots rang out and two bullets bounced off of the crate. Gabe took cover behind the crate before Johnson and Martin fired into the storm three times each before joining him and Norton. Gabe clenched his teeth and scanned the area. "Too thick to see. Martin, get this thing open. Everybody else, secure a perimeter for him!"

As Martin worked on forcing the crate, Gabe and the other two soldiers spread out, pistols clenched in both hands and sweeping the area for targets. One gun shot rang out and Johnson spun with a yelp, but remained on his feet. "That one got me in the shoulder! I'm ok though, the armor took it!"

"There!" Norton fired three times and was rewarded with a figure collapsing to the sand.

Norton grinned under her visor. "Hell yeah, one target is KIA sir!"

"We have three more out there, keep guard!" Gabriel said before two bullets buried themselves into the sand near his foot. He returned fire with two shots and crouched. "Preserve ammo! We only have so many of these!"

The three marines maintained their perimeter around Martin and the crate. In the end Gabriel has four shots left in his clip before Martin yelled. "It's open!"

Gabe turned in time to receive a Viper rifle, with a full clip in it. He saw the scope on it and sent a nod to Martin as he passed a Van Guard to Johnson and a Dagger-1 to Norton. Gabe looked through the scope, which identified two hostiles. He squeezed the trigger and knocked one off his feet, the other retreating over the next hill. Gabriel scanned the area as his visor confirmed a 'KIA' hit. The two soldiers they hit got up and nodded to them.

"Good shots, we'll head back to base!" They dropped their weapons and ammo and proceeded west towards Alpha Base.

"How much do we have?" Gabe asked Martin before receiving four clips for his rifle.

"There's all the viper ammo. I have about twenty shells for this." Martin hefted a pump action shot gun. "Five clips for the Dagger and three spares for the Vanguard, and these." He held up a pair of stun grenades, which Gabe took from him. "I'd say things are looking good."

"Alright team, let's get moving." Gabriel said. "I have the viper so I'll move ahead, the rest of you stay behind me."

* * *

"Oh no…sir, can you come here please?"

"What is it Nash?" Charles joined his XO.

"Something's going on with the exterior sensors." Nash said. "I've lost all sight out there."

"Contact Daedelus control." Charles said. "Get us some eyes out there."

"Daedelus Control, Daedelus Control, this is UNNS _Ark of Terra_ requesting exterior scan, our sensors are out." Nash said into the Comm. Link.

"_Ark of Terra_ this is Daedelus control…you have something on your outer hull." An operator said. "Drone 4-Delta moving in for a closer look…oh my god."

"What is it?"

"It's going for your V Scrambler!" The operator yelled. "Oh god, all stations go to Condition 1! Full combat alert! Repeat, full combat alert!" Then the radio went dead.

"What is happening, what's going on out there?!" A crew member yelled before there was a sound of groaning metal.

"Oh god….." Charles looked to Nash. "Are the missiles loaded?"

"Yeah, they finished just now." The Commander nodded.

"Get us undocked and prepare to deploy." Charles said. "We're out of time."

Then the lights flickered and went out, replaced with the flash light mounted on the pistols of several bridge crew and the two marines standing guard. One man whimpered. "I felt something!"

"Everybody get out, quietly." Charles said, and after a few moments he yelled. "Now, get out of here!"

But then he jerked, his eyes clouding over as he went limp and began to gurgle out blood. Some people looked at their captain…and then focused on his stomach. Protruding from it was a hand. The flesh on it was stained blood red by the human blood that was now leaking to the grating and leaking through holes in it. Behind Captain Charles Anton was something that stood a full head taller than any man or woman in the room.

The two marines focused their flash lights on it as it tossed Anton's body aside, its clawed hand accidently severing what little there was connecting the two halves together and caused them to fly in two separate directions, spilling Anton's intestines on the tactical officer and part of his stomach onto one marine guard while the legs flopped to the ground. Anton's top half vanished into the shadows while the crew stared in horror at the thing that had appeared on their bridge.

It was human in shape, but its features were anything but human. It was covered in sickly pale grey flesh that looked like it belonged on a corpse, and parts of it had holes in it that leaked us and slime. It breathed raggedly through a jaw containing dozens of tiny dagger sharp teeth, its ten yellow eyes straying from each of the ten humans in the room. The claw tipped hand of its right arm dripped with Charles Anton's blood while the other screeched along the wall as it swung it up and cut the helmsman in half down the middle in his seat before he could scream.

"Shit!" One marine yelled before he fired his assault rifle, as did his companion while the seven crew members began to flee. In the panicked fire fight one man was torn apart by a hail of gun fire that struck the creature, ripping its chest open and spraying blood and slime over the floor. Suddenly a large pink…_thing_ of muscle pounced on the tactical officer and knocked her to the floor, pinning her as she shrieked and struggled and then bit down on her head. With a sickening snap and a 'squelch' it bit the top of her head off, leaving only her jaw, which was still open in a silent scream as blood the creature chewed the top side of the woman's head to pieces.

The marines refocused their fire, as did Commander Nash, who fired four shots from his HGX, making the massive creature shriek as it dragged itself on its front limbs towards them, its eyes wide with indescribable rage as Nash saw his reflection in the massive eye ball before he popped it with a bullet. The creature shrieked before it fell under the assault.

But then in a flash of red another creature appeared, growing so large that its head dented the metal plates of the ceiling. Bowing down, it roared in rage as the flash lights of the three humans illuminated it, revealing a man shaped beast with tree trunk thick limbs filled with muscle under dead grey skin that looked as hard as rock and had various shapes and scars carved into its ugly flesh. Parts of it were blood red, such as the chest, throat, and jaws. It had no nose or ears, and two beady eyes stared at the trio of horrified humans who were like ants compared to the massive beast. It's massive hoof like feet made the grating groan beneath them from the unorthodox weight the creature possessed.

Nash turned his head as screams came from the corridor and got a glimpse of a creature precisely like the first ripping the communications officer in half with its bare hands before the two marines opened fire again as the massive beast charged. Nash barely got two shots off before it grabbed his skull in its hands. He cried out and struggled as it lifted him into the air.

The marines paused to eject their empty ammunition clips and replaced them quickly to save their XO. But before they got a burst off, Nash's head vanished in the monster's massive grip with a 'crackle' as if it had crushed a candy wrapper, and the struggles of Commander Nash ceased. It tossed his body off to the side before the two marines screamed and fired before it charged them.

* * *

"Hell yeah, got another one!" Gabe yelled as he managed to hit another soldier.

The battle field that had become home to twenty of the marines sent to increase the amount of 'hostiles' and four of the FNI fire teams had been toned down to only Gabriel, Johnson, and Norton-Martin had been hit and placed out and a fire team of four marines who were brought down quickly. He watched as the last fire team vanished over the hill side.

Suddenly the case on his back clicked. He blinked as he and his two comrades looked at it. Johnson took it off his back and opened it. "Something must have happened!"

"Are there any other teams out here?" Norton asked Gabriel, who looked at the eight clips inside the case and the four radio sets.

"That last team was the last one, we won." Gabe said. "Alright, dump your training ammo, get thee clips each and a radio. Whatever has happened we need to be on guard now, so if you see Alice coming at you with the Mad Hatter next to her I expect you both to blow them the fuck away." He ejected the training rounds and dumped the clips of training ammo he had for his pistol and viper-which he chose to abandon since there was no ammo for it for miles. He took one clip and slid it in to the pistol and pocketed the other as his two remaining team members inserted one clip into their own pistols and pocketed two spares each.

"Ok, we'll head to Alpha Base and try to get a sit rep." Gabriel said. "If we catch up to anybody along the way I'm sure they'll get the picture and come along with us."

The trio of marines started across the sand back towards Alpha Base as the sun began to set in the distance. Whatever had happened to make Athens Command give them live ammo, it must be bad, but Gabriel would get worried when he got back to base.

One problem at a time.

* * *

End of chapter


	4. Chapter 4

Doom: Hunter's Prime

* * *

Chapter Four: Hunter's Darkness

It took Gabriel, Johnson, and Norton an hour to get back to Alpha base at the speed they walked. When they the base's compound came into sight Gabriel raised a hand for them to stop. He checked his radio. "This is FNI training team five to Athens Alpha Base, repeat come in Alpha Base. This is Corporal Gabriel Hunter, access code 061194."

There was no response from the other side of the link for several seconds. "Hello? Fire Team Five? This is Sergeant Maxwell of Alpha Security."

"Sergeant, the base looks a little….dark from where I am." Gabriel was referring to how all of the signal lights that would always pulse were no longer lit. "Is everything ok in there?"

"The last of the teams just got back in here Corporal, something's' up." Maxwell said. "Come in at Air Lock 7, it's connected to the observatory building, it's the only one working manually. The only thing working in this damn base is gravity, life support, and interior doors."

"We're moving out sergeant, thank you sir." Gabriel said before he disconnected the link. "Let's get going!" The trio went down the slope to the compound perimeter. A set of powerful looking sentry guns eyed them before the FOF signals sent out made them turn away, continuing their automated cycle. The trio crossed the sand, sometimes losing their footing or sinking in a bit. Finally after two minutes or so they managed to reach the entry to the observatory.

"Let's get it open." Gabriel said as he holstered his pistol and approached the weathered air lock. It was operated with several latches that needed to be disconnected annually and the door would then open on its own until somebody forced it shut. He and Norton began to force the air lock while Johnson stood guard; his pistol ready for anything he believed may have given him cause to put thirteen actual bullets in it.

After several minutes the soldiers succeeded and the hatch hissed as it separated tow two segments, giving them access to the air lock. The trio entered, and then shut the hatch behind them with a flip of a lever. They waited until the interior hatch opened, letting them into the large domed research facility and that the area was safe before they relaxed.

"This is Hunter, we're inside." Gabriel said. "Can anybody give us a sit rep?"

"Hunter, this is Blackwell, I'm connecting you to Tolan, seeing as he's now the acting CO." Blackwell said. "He'll explain everything."

"Corporal, glad to see you made it." Tolan's voice said over the link.

"Glad to be back sir." Gabriel looked around the empty dome shaped room. "What is going on?"

"We have a combat status alert going around from a few stations and ships." Tolan said. "One of them is that bucket of bolts you arrived in, they said they're having a real big problem up there. I sent a few teams to some of the outposts and to the Daedelus Station. I have no contact with ACIII command though, and the power went out here for the most part. I have technicians working on it, but I need eyes in the field Corporal."

"What can I do for you Sir?" Gabriel asked as he leaned against a railing that overlooked the lower section of the dome. Down below were empty consoles and office cubicles.

"November 12 just came back from a training run; I want you to take it to the Athens Civilian Center." Tolan said. "It's home to about three thousand civilians who have no idea we're on this rock with them. Take your fire team over there."

"My training team? Sir shouldn't we be with our squads?" Gabriel asked.

"I already dispatched your squad mates to all of the afflicted areas." Tolan said. "Report to Docking Lock 3, I have Martin there waiting for you and the ship is fully fueled and ready to go, your old pilot is also there."

"That's a relief, if I'm going out there at least I can take that bastard with me." Gabriel chuckled. "I'll have my team there and back ASAP Sergeant, Hunter out." He looked to his companions. "Come on, let's get to the docking locks, we have a transport ready to take us to the civilian colony."

"Why the hell are they sending us out for?" Norton asked. "We aren't a commando team we're trainees!"

"We've been marines for months or years, we can handle it, applying for a new position doesn't change it." Gabriel said. "Now get yourself together and let's go."

They proceeded to the hatch labeled 'Junction', meaning that it connected to other parts of the compound. When they entered it Gabriel followed the path straight ahead to the door labeled 'Alpha Labs/Research and Development'. They passed through a crowd of swarming scientists and technicians. A pair of marines helped them get through the doors to the public area, where dozens of men and women were chatting, many confused and nervous. The lights over head were dim instead of blindingly bright.

"Hey, guys!" Gabriel saw Lance corporal Martin make his way towards them. "Man, things are going to hell here, I don't know what the hell happened but everybody here is close to pissing themselves."

"Has Tolan told you about or new mission?" Gabriel asked as they continued on towards the docking locks. They passed into a corridor where only a fire team of marines were chatting and went down to the departure areas. Gabriel saw three transports docked and ready, one of them were clearly labeled N12, November 12, his new personal transport for this mission.

"Yeah, the Athens colony went dark, they want us over there to make sure everybody's ok." Martin said. "Captain Parker went up to Daedelus with a full squad, carrying huge ass shot guns and flame throwers with them." He shuddered. "Hate to know why they need them, and I pity the bastards they're going after."

"What big ass guns do we get?" Gabriel asked.

"None," Martin said. "Just one Vanguard each, one clip for each, apparently the Sarge doesn't want a heavily armed assault team scaring the civilians if it's not a real problem going on up there."

"Ah shit." Johnson said. "They just scraped the bottom of the barrel didn't they?"

"Sorry Johnson, but that's the way it is." Martin said as they approached the transport air lock.

Two marines waved them through to the interior of the ship, where Vinceti greeted them.

"Hey man," He nodded to Gabe. "Alright, your gear is in the back, get suited up. I'll get you to Athens in fifteen minutes." As he went to the cockpit the four went to the aft of the cabin where a single locker built in to the wall had a green light above it, signaling it had supplies for use. They opened it and took out four Vanguard submachine guns, each with a full clip.

Gabriel shouldered his and looked to his team, who were obviously uncomfortable with going into the unknown with one clip for their main weapons. He sighed and ejected the clip in his Vanguard. "Norton, you're the best marksman besides me, catch." She caught the clip and nodded appreciatively to Gabriel.

"You sure you want to do that?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, I can make do with this." Gabriel un-holstered his HGX and flicked the safety off.

* * *

In fifteen minutes the transport began to approach Athens, which was essentially a series of domes connected to each other, some the size of a house while the larges twas bigger than twenty foot ball fields.

"Ok, the public hangar is connected to Sector 3, which is basically a park made to make them feel welcome when they arrive." Vinceti said. "Pass through the botanical park and make your way into the living areas beyond." He paused. "I'm not getting any radio traffic out of this place."

"Martin, Norton, you two will stay behind with Vinceti and keep this transport safe." Gabriel said. "Johnson, you're with me, we'll scout out the colony and report back anything we find."

"I can handle myself." Vinceti said with indignity.

"Still, I want you to be able to fly out of here quickly if we have to make a quick getaway." Gabriel said as the transport descended into the public hangar, landing in one of ten hangars, each of which could only hold two ships the size of the transport. "Norton, you remain on board. Martin, you cover the hangar exit."

"Yes sir!" As soon as the engines shut down and the walk way was connected to the air lock by the automated systems, the doors hissed open and Gabriel led Johnson and Martin out of the ship and across to the cat walk that led out of the hangar. As they moved towards it Martin moved off up a small set of steps and entered the control booth.

"Alright, I'll keep an eye on things here." Martin said. "Good luck Gabe."

"Stay sharp Martin." Gabriel said before he and Johnson exited the hangar and proceeded down a hall into a lobby. Beyond that was the large botanical park Vinceti had mentioned. It had a few walk ways so people could walk freely and had several species of tree both from Earth and Centauri Prime. The two men cautiously proceeded across the empty lobby and down a small set of steps to the walk way that led across the park.

"Wait." Johnson said. "Look."

Gabriel did so and saw a blood stain on the metal floor. He crouched and put one gloved finger in it, bringing the armored gauntlet away, dripping. "It's fresh." Gabe stood. "Martin, Norton, we have signs of a recent attack, fresh blood, keep an eye out."

"No activity here sir, its all clear on our end, we'll inform you of anything we find." Martin said.

"Very good, as you were soldier," Gabriel said before he and Johnson proceeded, finding several more blood stains. They cross the park to the opposite door and opened it. Johnson stuck his submachine gun through and gasped. "Sir, look at this!"

"What is it?" Gabriel looked through and saw the body of a man wearing marine armor. A bent Shredder lay next to him.

The two men crouched over the corpse. Gabriel transmitted footage from his helmet camera to Vinceti. "Look at this." The man's face was reduced to a mess of blood under the smashed visor, one of the eyes still visible and staring blankly at the ceiling. He had many holes and dents in his armor.

"Scanners say the dude died of blood loss, the guy was still alive when his face got shredded." Vinceti said. "Poor guy would have had a chance if there were medics with him."

"It's official, we have hostiles here." Gabe said. "How many marines were stationed here?"

"Two platoons, fifty men in total." Vinceti replied.

Gabriel searched the man for ammo and found a single clip for his HGX, which he pocketed and stood up.

"We're proceeding." Gabe said before he and Johnson moved on to a hall lined with open doors that revealed suites within that looked reasonably comfy. They found a woman's body on the floor of the first. She was on her back, eyes wide with fright, her clothes ripped away and her rib cage ripped open, her organs strewn on the carpet and her ribs stuck through her arms and legs and two in her mouth, coming out the back of her head.

"Holy shit, what the hell could have done this?" Johnson looked away in disgust.

"Keep going and we might just find out." Gabriel urged him out of the suite and closed the doors, marking it with a white X.

They searched each suite, finding at least one or two bodies from time to time. Gabriel found each of them in various places, one was nailed to the ceiling, one was posed with cables acting as puppet strings with his head placed in his hands, his eye balls placed on the floor beneath him. Another was a man who had tried to hang himself only to have his internal organs ripped out before he could die judging from the look of terror on his face.

"Oh my god, oh my god sir, look at this!" Johnson said over the radio.

Gabriel rushed to the end of the hall and joined Johnson in a wide area beyond that had seemed to be a market area for the civilians. It went off in both directions, angling to form what might be a ring that could hold dozens while above cat walks may have been patrolled by marines. There were bodies piled up in a mountain right in front of the duo. Many were not as creatively murdered as the ones in the corridor that held the luxury suites, just with claw marks and burns or bullet holes. But there were children now, even babies who seemed to be arranged in a ring around the pile as if so they could be the most noticeable of the dead.

"Oh dear god," Vinceti whispered. "They killed children…babies! Oh my god what kind of sick people are we dealing with?!"

"Stay calm sir, we're moving." Gabriel said.

"The second class residential corridors are on the west side of the market ring." Vinceti said. "I have access to security…I have no life signs in the markets, but the motion sensors are off the charts in some places. There's something coming towards you both from the right, that's east. And bro, I have bad news, the left side's security doors are locked further along, you'll need to get past your new company to get to the residential section."

Gabriel and Johnson raised their respective weapons in the direction Vinceti indicated as they heard light 'thuds' of boots against the stone floor. They tensed as a man wearing marine armor, a helmet over his head limped into view, moving towards them.

"We have a survivor!" Johnson lowered his Vanguard and rushed towards the man, catching him as he fell and balancing him. "Hey man, are you ok?!"

"I'm only reading you guys in there!" Vinceti said.

"Sir, we need to get this man medical attention. Carter, be ready for when we-" Gabriel paused as the man's helmet fell off.

The man's head was bald and had dead, sickly flesh. When he looked up, Gabriel gasped. Parts of the man's face were missing. One eye was hanging out of its socket, the left of the jaw was entirely visible, his nose ripped out, and his tongue was moving around as if sensing for something to taste, and it chose to bite down on Private Johnson's shoulder. The armor stopped the teeth, but Johnson cried out and struggled. "Ah! Holy shit! Get this freak off of me man!"

Gabriel charged forward and tackled the man off of Johnson. The two rolled, and soon Gabriel was under the man, who tried to bite him, but Gabriel held him off. After a few moments as Johnson scrambled up Gabriel clenched his teeth and grabbed one of the man's wrists and brought his left leg up over the man's head and placed his other foot on the man's hip. In a flash of movement the man was flipped onto his back next to Gabriel, who leaped on him and began to try pinning him, only to be forced off by a powerful shove from the man, who got up.

"Freeze, don't you move or I will open fire!" Gabriel shouted as he raised his pistol

The man limped forward towards Gabriel. "I said don't move!"

He kept coming. Gabriel fired twice into his chest, but the man barely jerked in response and kept coming. Gabe fired two more times, backing up before a hail of bullets knocked the man off of his feet. Gabe looked to a shaken Johnson, who lowered his Vanguard. "He…he's down sir."

"Shit…." Gabriel spoke into his radio. "Vinceti, the man…he was moving but…I shot him four times, Johnson brought him down with about a third of a clip."

"Holy crap man…" Vinceti whispered. "I say we get the hell out of here."

"We need to keep investigating sir." Gabriel said. "We'll let you know of anything else we find."

"Are you kidding? What if there are more of those things?!" Johnson looked around desperately.

"Settle down Private." Gabriel said. "That man was probably just badly affected by…whatever killed everyone else. Remember the Mars city incident? The survivors said they saw people take half a clip and stay up. It was a biohazard then it's probably a biohazard now, they can be killed like you have obviously seen." He nudged to corpse with his foot….only for it to grab his boot and hiss before Gabriel reacted with a single well placed bullet into its back that made it go limp. Gabriel, a little shaken but slowly regaining control said. "Ok…let's go, maybe somebody survived, found out what happened here."

Johnson hesitantly nodded and waited as Gabriel checked the man for ammo, but found nothing in the empty slots and compartments of the armor. Upon hearing the order to move on from the Corporal, Johnson followed Gabriel as he proceeded to the right along the market ring. "We should find the residential quarters like Vinceti said."

"What about weapons?" Johnson asked.

"The marine garrison is on the floor above that." Vinceti said. "And maybe you'll find some more ammo from a guard or marine, hopefully a friendly one who is not one with the universe already."

"That wasn't a zombie, quit freaking out." Gabriel said. "We're not in any danger. If these people are delusional from whatever made them this way we can easily deal with them."

"Sir, somebody just entered the hangar." Martin broke in. "Hold up! Drop the gun, now!" A gun shot rang out, followed by a burst of gun fire. "Hostile down, bastard tried to shoot me!"

"Seal that hangar Martin." Gabriel said. "Johnson, let's get going, we return to November 12 in an hour regardless of results."

"That idea sounds good to me sir!" Johnson said after they finally traversed the circumference of the market ring and reached a door marked 'RESIDENTIAL'. Gabe slid his hand over the motion scanner as Johnson crouched on one side of the door and Gabriel pressed himself up to the other side, pistol in hand. When the door slid open they both moved in, guns raised.

The Residential Section was a large dome several miles in circumference holding one or two story structures within, all of them a living quarters for one or two families. There were transport trams crashed in the streets, bodies placed in piles on the sidewalks, and riot barricades blocked most of the streets. The barricades were seven feet high and five feet thick, rising out of the ground from slots in the event of an emergency. Gabriel looked straight ahead and saw a single tram still on an unblocked track. "Johnson."

"I see it." The two men advanced on the tram, weapons locked on it as they approached it. Gabriel opened the left front door, and the body of a badly charred and missing half of his head and having a hole in his rib cage. Johnson removed a dead woman who had a jagged piece of metal stuck in between her legs and her head was ripped off.

"God…" Johnson and Gabe moved them off onto the sidewalk, being gentle as possible and got into the now empty tram car. Gabriel looked around the interior of the bus sized tram and then nodded to Johnson. "It's all clear, get in here." Johnson got in and locked the doors.

Gabriel tapped into the system and plotted a course for the far end of the residential area. The tram lurched and began to move. Johnson kept watch outside one of the windows, his Vanguard ready in case anything came into sight. The trip across the residential district took twenty minutes, barely ten minutes in the tram groaned. Gabe looked up, un-holstering his pistol. Johnson stood, aiming his Vanguard at the ceiling.

"What was that?" The young man whispered.

"Stay calm Private." Gabriel said. "Hold your ground."

"I'm not scared; I'm just curi- AH!" A long, scaly, bony arm smashed a window and reached in, grabbing Johnson. The hand was big enough to engulf his upper body. He cried out as it tried to pull him out the window, and he jammed himself against the window frame, groaning in pain and effort. "Get this fucking thing off of me!"

Gabriel grabbed Johnson around the waist with one arm and aimed around him with his other hand, firing three times into the arm, but it only pulled harder. Johnson cried out as a sickening crack came from his body as the arm gave another tug and the frame bent a bit. Gabriel emptied his clip through the ceiling, but the arm wouldn't let go.

Johnson cried out again as it pulled again, and his arms began to buckle. He screamed. "Help me! Oh god, please help me!" It pulled him through and he shrieked and grabbed the top of the frame, managing to barely keep in sight as Gabe grabbed his hands and tried to keep him from being pulled away. Johnson screamed. "Help me-!" A squishing sound cut him off, and Johnson went limp, and was tugged out of view as blood splattered Gabe, who was staring with wide, shocked eyes at where his subordinate had been dragged through. He quickly slid his next clip into his pistol and aimed at the ceiling.

Gabriel remained on the floor, pistol aimed at the ceiling until the tram came to a halt. He slowly got off and climbed out of the tram at the far end of the residential dome. He aimed up at the roof of the tram, where there was only a large red stain. His arms shook as he looked around….

And then something landed on him. Crying out, he scrambled and pushed it off of himself, aiming his pistol at the corpse of Private Johnson, the top half of it that is, which was missing half of it's skull and his mouth was left open in a frightened scream. Gabriel aimed his pistol upwards, scanning the air for whatever had killed him….and then with a shocking crash it landed behind him. He scrambled up and then backwards, firing three times at the beast.

It was huge, looking like a large squid with a pair of bat wings and many blade tipped tentacles on it. Blood and slime oozed from many openings on it as its tentacles dragged it across the ground. Then it hovered a few feet off the ground, its tentacles spreading out and a beak snapping at Gabriel while two ruby eyes stared at him from the squid shaped body, which looked like it had been burnt to a crisp. Suddenly the beak opened and something forced its way out…a face, attached to another tentacle. It looked like a hideous excuse for a human that grinned at him with black teeth and red eyes. With a sickening 'squelch' two long, bony, pitch black arms with massive clawed hands came out of the squid body's side.

It looked around as if Gabriel had not shot it three times. It spoke, its body sounding like many voices, male and female, young and old of various pitch and tone. "This universe…so beautiful…so ripe….they sought to forbid us from it…" Its eyes focused on Gabriel. "But now….the Legion will continue to take what is ours." One tentacle came up. "You locked us away…now you all will die."

It began to lower its tentacle, but then a rocket shot out of nowhere and struck it in the side. It roared, lurching before another rocket hit it. Then another as it tried to recover. It took off into the air, a fourth rocket managing to hit it in mid flight. Gabriel got to his feet, firing up at it before it broke out through the dome above, and alarms rang out. Gabriel didn't feel the change in atmosphere thanks to his armor. The dome was compromised; anybody not dead would be now.

"Forget it, it's gone!" Gabe turned and saw a single man drop a rocket launcher, military issue as he ran towards a door marked 'Maintenance Access 43'. "Come on!" The man waved one armored gauntlet. He was dressed in bulkier armor, once used by marines in space.

Gabriel ran towards the man as alarms wailed. A female voice said. "Warning, Residential environment breached, lock down engaged." The man opened the door before both he and Gabe leaped through. The doors closed and locked behind them, leaving them both to get to their feet.

"Thank you," Gabriel said as he tried to calm himself. "What the hell was that thing?"

"The worst of the rest as far as I can tell, keeps saying Legion over and over again so I just call him that." The man shrugged, taking off his helmet and revealing a dark skinned, middle aged man who had metallic grey eyes, obviously some of the new synthetic eyes. He had more muscle than Gabriel under the armor, and had short black hair and was forming a thin beard. "How come you don't know about him? Are you from here?"

"No, I…I was sent here to investigate this place to see the cause of the radio black out." Gabriel said. "Gabriel Hunter, Federal Naval Service initiate, in training."

"That was a really elite performance out there Corporal." The man raised an eye brow, a light smile on his face.

"Hey, give me a break; I've never dealt with this shit before! What the hell was that thing and what happened here?" Gabriel demanded.

"They just started popping up out of nowhere." The man said. "At first only a few, security and the other marines began to flush them out easy, but then a big….well I don't know how to day it, but a big hole opened up in the center of the residential district, showed…fire….ashes….and then an army of those things came through. The hole just seemed to sew itself up and then it was like it was never there…and we were stuck being slaughtered." He paused. "Name's Jones, Robert Jones, call me Bobby, I'm a technician here."

"It's nice to see a friendly face." Gabriel said. "Do you have any ammo?" He held up his now empty pistol. "I think I may have dropped my last clip out there."

"Here, take these." Jones reached into a pack he held on the back of his armor and pulled out several clips he gave to Gabe. Gabe slid one into his pistol and chambered a round before pocketing the other three in his armor.

"You're a life saver Bobby." Gabriel said.

"Are there any more of you?" Bobby asked.

"Two more guarding our transport and then the pilot, they had a light encounter with somebody who tried to shoot them. There was one more with me on the tram but…well Legion got him, poor guy was supposed to be on this rock to train, not fight things like this." Gabe said. "Speaking of, I should contact what's left of my team."

"Don't bother man, the lock down disables all forms of communication outside of the same room. And that would be a zombie that attacked them, there are tons here. If you get killed by one of those flying ones they turn you into a zombie." Bobby shuddered. "Just pass through your heart and you're not human anymore."

"Flying ones like that one that just attacked me?" Gabriel asked.

"No, smaller, they look like heads mounted on engines." Bobby said. "We had a priest who made up names for them; the guy had a bit of a sense of creativity. First we have zombies, then the lost souls, and the regular Demons-god I hope we don't run into one, big fat bastards, look like a bull gone wrong with mechanical legs. And there are plenty of more freaks walking around down here." He pulled out a pistol of his own. "Those were my last rockets, we need more ammo."

"Did the marines or colonial security have an armory?" Gabriel asked before Bobby climbed down a ladder in the center of the boiler room.

"I think so!" Bobby called up. "I know a way under the garrison, if we go now we can get there in maybe ten minutes. We can also disable the lock down from there."

"Alright, I'm game!" Gabriel called before he climbed down after Bobby.

They were now in a hall way lined with pipes, some rusting, and the lights were dim. Bobby pointed his pistol ahead. "Let's go man."

The two proceeded down the hall, moving cautiously as they checked every dark corner or space they came through. Gabriel whispered. "Are these things really demons?"

"I don't know, but I do know a good piece of lead to the face puts them down real good." Bobby said. "If you see a zombie, try using your pistol for a headshot, it'll work wonders."

"Thanks." Gabriel nodded to his companion before they turned a corner and came to a dark corridor. Bobby pulled out a flash light while Gabriel activated the pistol mounted one on his gun. The corridor was filled with over a dozen zombies lumbering around, and there were two taller creatures with ten bright glowing eyes that stared at them, jaws dripping with saliva as they stared at the two humans with hunger in their gaze. They both were much taller and muscular, and had dead grey skin, claw tipped hands and feet.

"Imps, two of them, don't let them near you man, fire!" Bobby yelled before he and Gabe fired into the hostile group, aiming for the imps.

One leaped over the zombies with amazing speed and knocked Gabe to the ground, pinning him as Bobby filled the other Imp ended up with thirteen bullet sized holes in its head and chest before it fell. The Imp shrieked and reared back a claw, ready to rip Gabriel apart, but Gabriel shot one arm up and struck the creature's swinging arm with his elbow, sending it glancing off his chest armor and allowing him to pistol whip the creature across the head, and as it was dazed he fired pointblank into its head, popping two of its eyes and blowing the back of its skull open, splattering brain matter over the zombie, some of who meagerly licked it off. Bobby slammed into the dead imp, sending it off Gabe and helping him to his feet before they fired into the zombies, using pin point accuracy to gain head shots, but only managed to get seven of the sixteen zombies before they were close enough.

Bobby roared and struck one zombie on the head, somehow easily scattering pieces of skull and brain on the floor. Gabe did the same and fired into a zombie through its mouth as it lurched at him, arms outstretched. The two men managed to easily deal with the slow and clumsy zombies, punching them once and then ducking or backing out of an attack before hitting them again. In the end the zombies fell, and Bobby only sported a bruise on his left cheek and Gabe had a rather sore arm. They looked through the bodies and found five clips of pistol ammo and four shot gun shells.

"If this guy was down here when he bought it, maybe he left his boom stick for us." Bobby tapped the man Gabriel had found the bandoleer of shells on.

"Yeah…well since I'm the trained Special Forces marine I'll take the liberty of keeping these safe." Gabe and Bobby chuckled as Gabriel put the bandoleer on and tightened it over his chest plate. "Let's go before we end up with more of those imps. God I hate those things already."

"Wait, how did you fight that thing in hand to hand? That thing should have broken your arm when you tried to stop it from clobbering you." Bobby said.

"Oh…before I left for Alpha Centauri two years ago, back on Earth they unofficially began our initiation into FNI with…well all initiates into FNI are put through an enhancement process." Gabriel said. "A type of injection similar to steroids, except it's an entirely different formula that has no downside to it if you only inject it in small doses every few months."

"So you can still….?" Bobby pointed to Gabe's equator.

Gabe rolled his eyes. "Yes, I can achieve a pocket rocket and have kids to prove it nine months later. I'm not the incredible hulk or superman but I am stronger than the average man, it makes people like me more durable, I didn't think it actually worked except for giving me some more stamina, I haven't been winded once."

"I thought the FNI was just a glorified Paramilitary." Bobby said.

"So did I, but apparently those injections worked after all." Gabe said. "Only down side is some hallucinations if I take too much of it. I'm not due for another injection until next month."

"Damn, you guys aren't as bad as I thought." Bobby said. "Are there any other enhancements they made?"

"Well, somewhat enhanced reaction time." Gabriel said. "They were working on a way to improve the human eye sight, a type of new synthetic eye, or one they grow.

"Shit, I thought you guys were bottom of the barrel." Bobby grinned. "Glad to have you with me Corporal."

"Likewise, now let's get our asses in gear before more show up." Gabe said.

As they proceeded, Gabe pressed Bobby for more answers. "What the hell are these imps? Those could not have been human at any point in time."

"They were with the first wave." Bobby said. "And man, you saw that Legion prick, and that was not of this or any other world."

"Yeah, but I'm not a strong believer in the forces of hell appearing on one of the moons of Alpha fucking Centauri!" Gabriel said. "I'm not the most religious so forgive me if I don't believe these are the legions of hell here to bring the end of days."

"Maybe they aren't." Bobby said, and then added in a whisper. "But maybe they are."

As Gabriel followed the technician through the maintenance tunnels, he found himself fearing that Bobby may be right, and that this truly was the beginning of the apocalypse. They found another group of zombies, this one numbering over thirty, at least seven or eight of them marines, and proceeded to gun them down one at a time until Gabriel was thrown back when a gun shot rang out. He looked at his chest armor and saw it was bullet ridden. He looked up and saw a zombie marine…carrying shotgun, a fully functional Boomer pump action shot gun.

Bobby helped him up and they slowly backed up along the corridor, firing shots every few moments and scoring a head shot most of the time. By the time they burned through a clip each they had gotten sixteen zombies between each other. Gabe focused on the shot gun toting marine, eyeing the Boomer it carried with envy and hope that it would make this easier. The marine fired again, only for the gun to click. It looked down at it and then reached for the bandoleer it had wrapped around its upper body before Gabe fired three shots into its head, shattering the visor and then going through its head.

The marine and technician burned through the rest of the bullets in their respective clips before the zombies fell. Gabriel loaded a fresh clip, making sure to be more careful to preserve ammo this time and maybe use the stun grenades he kept from the training course. He had this clip and maybe……two spares left now. He and Bobby relaxed as they accepted the fact that there were no other enemies in sight.

"They can use guns?" Gabriel asked.

"I never saw them do that." Bobby said. "Let's hope there aren't too many more like these down here, I only have two clips left."

"Same." Gabe said before they looked through the bodies of the marines and found two clips each. Gabriel took the Boomer and then removed shells from the dead man's bandoleer, sliding them into the shot gun and pumping it once he had a full eight shells. He sighed. "At least we have some better artillery." He slid the last four shells out of the bandoleer and into his own. "I'd prefer a machine gun, but you got to make do with what you have."

"Amen to that, a shot gun's better for those imps anyways." Bobby said.

"Let's keep going and hope we don't need to use it then." Gabriel replied, taking point with the pump action.

They came to a hatch in the maintenance tunnel marked 'Garage 4'.

"This is right below the marine barracks." Bobby said. "The rover garages are always located below ground level; these ones are used to repair our Comm. Relays, the ones we set up a few miles out." He opened the door, revealing a large dim garage area with two rovers in them. "I tried a rover in a Garage seven, they tore up everything inside, and I think these ones are just as worthless."

"Alright, forget the rovers, we move on to the garrison." Gabriel climbed out of the shaft and then climbed down a short ladder, bringing his shot gun up when his feet touched ground. "It's all clear."

Bobby nodded and began to climb out, but was jerked back. "Ah! Something's grabbed me! Help me man!" Gabe dropped his shot gun and easily leaped up and grabbed Bobby, determined not to lose a comrade so easily again. Bobby groaned with the effort of holding on to Gabe with one hand and the frame of the hatch with his other hand. "Shotgun, give me the shot gun, hurry!"

Gabe leaped down and grabbed it, holding it up to Bobby, who jammed it in behind him and ground out. "Get, the fuck," he fired one shot and a screech rang out. "Off!"

Bobby climbed out, one of his boots covered in blood. "An Imp grabbed my foot."

"Glad I didn't have a repeat of the tram car." Gabe said as Bobby handed the Boomer back to him. "Remind me not to get on your bad side, for a techie you're pretty damn good at this."

"Sergeant Morgan gave me a quick crash course at this." Bobby said as he started forward.

"Wait, Sergeant Morgan? Vanessa Morgan?" Gabriel questioned the tech.

"Yeah, another FNI initiate that said she got sent here with her team to check things out, but she was packing a Ripper and had a squad wither when she came, not a fire team." Bobby said. "Why, do you know her?"

"She's my squad's CO; we were re-organized with our training teams for this 'scout mission' by Master Sergeant Tolan over at Alpha." Gabe said. "He told me he sent all my 'regular squad mates' to other places, like the out posts that went silent or Daedelus dock yards."

"The Daedelus yards went out too? Shit these things must be everywhere!" Bobby said. "But why would Tolan lie to you? If you knew Morgan's team was here you could have tried contacting her and coordinating, maybe that would have saved your buddy on the tram."

"Yeah…I wonder if the rest of my regular squad is here as well." Gabe said. "The sooner we find the garrison the sooner I can contact them."

"Well, the hatch is right on the opposite side of this section, which means four individual garages." Bobby said. "Let's be careful, anything could hide in here." The two of them spent the next five minutes scouting the garage, checking the inside of the rovers and in crates. In the end they only got four more pistol clips and five shells off of dead colonial guards and a marine. There was a bent shot gun that Bobby left in favor of a second pistol he slid into his belt.

"Find anything?" Gabe asked as they reunited.

"A few clips." He tossed one to Gabe, who pocketed it. "Let's go."

They moved on to the doors leading to Garage three, and Gabriel slid his hand over the sensor. The doors hissed open….and a bright ball of energy struck Gabriel in the right shoulder, making him scream as his armor began to heat up and melt. Bobby fired at the imp and managed to bring it down with five head shots as it reared back its hand, another sphere forming.

"Get this off me!" Gabriel clenched his teeth as he and Bobby proceeded to manually de-attach the armor's various mechanisms and soon they slid the entire right arm of the infantry battle armor off of Gabe and tossed it away. Gabe looked at the sleeve of his shirt and saw that the energy had burnt his skin. Bobby pulled out a medical kit and went to work on it, injecting it with a fluid that numbed the pain and then rubbing a type of cream Gabe didn't bother to look at and then wrapping it all with a length of bandages.

"Are you good?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah…those things shoot fire from their fucking hands?" Gabe asked. "Why didn't you mention this?"

"They never did that until now." Bobby said as he began to help Gabriel up and into Garage Three. There were a full four rovers in it, and many bodies of both monsters and humans lay around among the rubble and debris.

"It looks like our people didn't go without a fight." Gabe said.

"The gun fire stopped forty minutes before we met up." Bobby said. "The fight was quick."

"They wiped out the entire Athens colony in less than an hour?" Gabe asked, astounded. "There was supposed to be thousands here!"

"There was." Bobby said. "Until they came along, and we'll end up like them if we don't get moving."

The duo scavenged for ammo, but only discovered another five shells and two clips before they encountered resistance from several zombies. Gabriel ended up using an entire clip and three shells to clear out the armed marine zombies while Bobby used ten shots to clear his opponents. When the garage was silent they continued searching until one of the Rovers seemed to shake a bit. They looked at each other and then approached the rover, weapons raised. Bobby climbed up to the top and gripped the hatch's handle, twisting it with a 'click' and then swinging it open.

There was a single man sitting in there, rocking back and forth on the seats, eyes wide as he stared out the front canopy. He was covered in blood and had many scratches and cuts, but was alive and well. He wore no uniform, so he must have been a civilian. Gabe offered him a hand. "Hey, are you alright?"

The man looked at him, one eye swollen as he grasped Gabe's hand and allowed himself to be pulled out. He looked around the room for a moment before he stared at the two men before him. Gabriel said. "It's ok, my name is Corporal Hunter, and we're here to protect you."

The man whispered. "You can't protect anyone…they can't be stopped." He slowly reached under his coat and produced a small pistol, a gun used by colonial security that only held eight rounds. Gabe and Bobby tensed as he brought it up.

"Put it down!" Gabe aimed his shot gun at the man. "Put the gun down!"

"The only reprieve is death….if you fight they kill you, if you hide they kill you slowly…." The man began to sob, and turned the pistol to his temple. "I'm dying on my terms you bastards! Do you hear me?! I'm not being food for you!" He looked around the garage as if it was still occupied. "FUCK YOU ALL!"

"NO!" Gabe reached out, but the man squeezed the trigger and blew his head open, splattering blood on the dead around him as he fell.

"Holy shit man!" Bobby shuddered as he hesitantly reached down and took the pistol, checking it, and then tossing it away. "It's empty….we should get going."

"Yeah-" Gabe started before the room suddenly turned red, entirely. It was as if the emergency lights had turned on, but there were no sirens or alarms, instead there were four flashes of light as four imps appeared, two on top of each rover on either side of the men.

"Damn!" Gabe raised his shot gun and fired once, knocking an Imp off of the third rover while Bobby quickly emptied a clip into one on the second rover as the two men moved to avoid the energy blasts that rained down on them. One imp landed in front of them, only for Gabe to blow its head off with a shot from his shot gun. Another swung an arm and sent Bobby flying into a crate. He groaned before it leaped on him and tried to rip his head off, only for Gabe to fire once, twice, three times into its back, aiming high so as not to hit Bobby, and the Imp fell as Gabriel reloaded his shot gun.

The last two Imps fired on the two while Bobby took cover behind the crate and Gabriel rolled to the right, bringing his shot gun up and hitting an Imp as it leaped straight at him, blowing it's head off. Bobby fired on the last Imp as it crouched to leap at Gabriel, managing to bring it down.

The two looked at the bodies scattered about the garage, and then continued to the entrance of garage 2. Gabriel sighed. "Care to wager on what the hell we'll see in this one?"

"I'd rather not." Bobby said. "Let's just go."

Gabriel opened the door and they charged through, only to find the garage untouched except for the body of an Imp and four zombies and two marines who looked as if they had been shot to death rather than turned. There was also something that almost made Gabriel cry, a stash of ammo and weapons arranged along several crates.

He filled up on as many pistol clips as he could and then filled his bandoleer with shells. Bobby took a shot gun and a bandoleer of shells while Gabe eyed something that looked beautiful to him, a Dagger-1. He attached is shot gun to one set of magnetic strips on the back of his armor and grabbed the SCR, slid a clip into it, and managed to grab several more clips for it. Finally he grabbed three fragmentation grenades.

Now totally armed, the two looked at each other and then the door to Garage 1.

"This must have been one of the areas the marines blocked to try to defend the garrison." Bobby said.

"Yeah, but this seems too convenient." Gabriel said. "I think something will be waiting for us on the other side."

"Yeah," The technician and soldier approached the door and stared at the words **GARAGE 1** above it.

"Soldiers first, buddy." Bobby said.

"Oh thank you so much." Gabriel said before he shouldered his Dagger-1, approaching the door and sliding his hand over the sensor.

When the door opened, the entire garage was empty. At the opposite end in a corner was a ladder that led up to a hatch marked **GARRISON B ENTRY HATCH**.

There were no crates, no rovers, no bodies, but covering the center of the floor was a circle that had many symbols drawn inside it, entirely drawn in red with candles surrounding it.

"What the hell is this?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know." Gabe said. "Looks like some kind of…I don't know what."

"Forget it, let's go, the garrison is right there." Bobby started forward before a flash of red light blinded them both, and then laughter filled the air, cackling at them as they backed away, weapons raised.

"What the hell is this?!" Bobby yelled as wind whipped around them.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Gabriel replied.

Suddenly the light vanished, and standing in the circle was an entire army, perhaps a platoon or two worth of monsters. Most of them were zombies dressed in barely recognizable clothing, some in what looked like armor you'd see in a medieval movie, some men in fatigues similar to marine armor carrying older weapons. There were ten Imps and a dozen heads mounted on what looked like engines that flew over the army, snapping and growling.

And then in the front was what Bobby had described earlier. It was large, skinless with a layer of muscle covering it, a massive mouth and beady eyes, brawling on two massive tree trunk thick arms while mechanical legs barely supported its back end. The Demon roared and started at the two with the small army behind it.

"Oh my god, look at them all!" Bobby yelled.

"Forget it, tear them up!" Gabriel barked before he and Bobby opened fire. Bobby's shot gun shells and Gabriel's 10mm armor piercing rounds tore into the Demon as it led it's army, and it roared in pain, slowing down and letting it's minions charge ahead.

The two men retreated back into garage two, each tossing a grenade out that vaporized a dozen zombies and two imps in total. More zombies and several Imps rushed through with half of the Lost Souls flying overhead only for Gabe to pick them off with his rifle. There was another flash from Garage 1 and many new roars and screeches joined the first wave of enemies.

"There are more of them!" Bobby yelled as he blasted away an Imp and two zombies and paused to reload while Gabriel picked off the last three Lost Souls before a full eighteen flew into the room, flying around the two in a circle. Bobby brought his Boomer up and blasted two out of the air with one burst while Gabriel burned through a clip to bring down six of them, during which Bobby took down eight. They dodged the Lost Souls whenever they dove to attack and returned fire, finally putting down the last two, but the zombies and Imps charged forward now.

"Fall back!" Gabe yelled before he and Bobby tossed another grenade each that vaporized the front lines of the attackers. "We need to block off these doors!"

They managed to get to Garage 3 and shut the door. Bobby immediately ran to the controls and tapped in a command.

"Emergency lock initiated." A female AI voice said.

The hordes of hell banged their fists on the door, growling and shrieking in rage.

"That won't hold them for long." Gabe said.

"I think I have an idea, this way!" bobby rushed to the walls and forced a panel off, revealing a pipe system. "See that tank sticking out of the floor near the rovers? Hook it up with a hose and attach the other end of the hose to this pipe when I'm done. Hurry up; we have about a minute until they get in!"

Gabe followed orders and rushed to the tank, which was marked **WARNING, HIGHLY FLAMMABLE**. It was the fuel tank that fed the rovers whenever they needed it! He saw the hose lying in a pile and quickly attached one end to the nozzle in the tank and took the other end over to Bobby, who unhinging something and removed a section of pipe. He took the hose and attached it to a now headless pipe while the other headless part of the pipe poured water out. He attached the hose in place.

Bobby smirked. "In case the fire safety systems went out in one section they designed this so you could attach a hose from a functioning water tank and hook it up. Thing is the hoses here are of the same design, so the fuel will work perfectly." He ran over to a console. "I just need access to the garage fire control."

The door began to buckle.

"They're coming in, hold them off for me!" Bobby yelled.

Gabe switched to his shot gun and fired through a breach that formed between the two doors, hitting an imp in the face. He fired through more holes that formed in the doors. "Hurry up man!"

"I'm trying! The lock down is making it difficult!" Bobby yelled.

For thirty more second Gabe tried to hold back the army of zombies and Imps, but the door began to buckle. Suddenly the female AI voice spoke. "Lock down rescinded."

The dim lights glowed brightly.

"I'm in!" Bobby yelled. "Fire systems activated!"

Gabe heard the sprinklers in Garage 2 come to life.

"Alright, disconnecting the hose!" bobby ran to the hose and disconnected it from the pipe. "Just so it doesn't trail back to here, I don't want to blow up too!"

"What now?!" the doors were barely held by their hinges.

"Toss this in there; I grabbed it from Garage 2!" Bobby yelled before he tossed grenade to Gabe…it was a white phosphorous grenade!

Gabe pulled the pin and tossed the grenade through one of the dents in the door and ran across the garage with Bobby, hiding behind the furthest rover.

The moment the grenade exploded the doors flew off their hinges and slammed into the first rover, denting it. Many demons that were on fire tried to flee into Garage Three only for Gabe and Bobby to mow them down with their shot guns. Finally, only the Demon lumbered through, ignoring the fire as its underlings died around it. It even swung an Imp behind and continued crawling towards the two, who raised their Boomers at once and fired a full eight times into it.

It fell as sixteen shot gun shells tore into it and then it went limp, its mechanical legs twitching slightly.

Gabe said. "Bobby….these things are definitely from hell, because nothing else could do that."

"We need to get more of you FNI guys over here and secure this place." Bobby said.

"Yeah, and now we can with the lock down disabled." Gabriel said. "Let's go."

They reconnected the water pipes and water put out the fire raging in Garage 2. They moved on and found that the explosion had affected Garage 1, destroying part of the summoning circle.

"Up we go." Gabe climbed up and unlocked the hatch to the garrison.

When it hissed open, he found himself looking into the tip of A ripper assault rifle.

"Don't move." Gabriel looked up slowly and looked into the surprised eyes of a woman wearing marine armor.

"Sergeant Morgue?"

"Angel Eyes, you're alive!" A joyful Jamie Carter cried as he joined Morgue.

"Angel eyes?" Bobby giggled.

Gabriel sighed. "Great to see you all too, now get rid of that gun and help me up, we have a ton to talk about."

* * *

End of chapter


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